Automatic prescription filling, sorting and packaging system

ABSTRACT

In an automated prescription dispensing and packing system, empty prescription bottles are labeled and loaded in assigned locations in carriers. Pills are automatically dispensed into the prescription bottles in the carriers. Ranks of carriers containing filled prescription bottles are assembled at stations where the bottles are unloaded and packed into shipping containers with literature printed by the system. Multiple bottles of an order are automatically packed in the same shipping container.

This application is a Divisional Application of U.S. application Ser.No. 12/235,242, filed Sep. 22, 2008, entitled AUTOMATIC PRESCRIPTIONFILLING, SORTING AND PACKAGING SYSTEM, which is a Divisional Applicationof U.S. application Ser. No. 09/608,013 filed Jun. 30, 2000 entitledAUTOMATIC PRESCRIPTION FILLING, SORTING AND PACKAGING SYSTEM now U.S.Pat. No. Re40,510 which is a Reissue Application of U.S. Pat. No.5,771,657 issued Jun. 30, 1998 entitled AUTOMATIC PRESCRIPTION FILLING,SORTING AND PACKAGING SYSTEM. This application is related to U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 12/473,785, filed May 28, 2009 which is aDivisional Application of U.S. application Ser. No. 12/235,242, filedSep. 22, 2008, entitled AUTOMATIC PRESCRIPTION FILLING, SORTING ANDPACKAGING SYSTEM, each of which is hereby incorporated by referenceherein in its entirety.

Notice: More than one reissue application has been filed for the reissueof U.S. Pat. No. 5,771,657. The reissue applications are applicationSer. Nos. 12/469,482 (the present Divisional Reissue Application, filedon May 20, 2009), application Ser. No. 12/473,785 (Divisional ReissueApplication filed on May 28, 2009), 12/235,242 (Divisional ReissueApplication filed on Sep. 22, 2008) and 09/608,013 (Reissue Applicationfiled on Jun. 30, 2000) now U.S. Pat. No. Re40,510, all of which arereissues of U.S. Pat. No. 5,771,657.

This invention is directed to an integrated system for automaticallyfilling prescriptions and then assembling multiple prescriptions in acommon package or unit with literature which relates to the prescriptionand/or marketing materials.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The use of mail service to fill prescriptions has been highly successfulin lowering the costs of providing drugs to consumers. The filling ofprescriptions and mailing the filled prescriptions to consumers is laborintensive and a pharmacy can significantly reduce its costs, improvequality, and reduce turn around time by automating the prescriptionfilling and assembling procedures.

Semi-automated prescription dispensing machines which can automaticallycount the tablets or capsules of a unique prescription have had asignificant impact in the drug industry. However, use of these machinesstill require many manual steps to complete a patient's order. Forexample, the positioning of the bottle under the proper chute iscontrolled by a technician or pharmacist and after filling the bottle,the prescription has to be further handled manually to effect mailing ofthe prescription to the patient.

Patients or families using mail services to fill prescriptions oftenreceive multiple prescriptions. Data suggests that about 50 percent ofmail service for prescription drugs involves orders for at least twoseparate prescriptions. The advantages of a system which automaticallyfills the respective separate prescriptions, combines the prescriptionsof each order and prepares the orders for mailing are readily apparent.An automated system would produce great labor savings in what heretoforehas been a highly labor intensive process and at the same time wouldreduce time required to process prescriptions.

While the advantages of such a system are apparent, there are a numberof problems which have to be solved in order to automatically fill andcombine multiple prescription orders into a single package. The multipleparts of an order have to be brought automatically into close proximityat a packaging location. There is a need to place literature about theprescriptions in each shipping container along with the prescription.Any system which automatically distributes drugs must have a number ofcontrols and checks to insure that the correct prescription is filledinto the correct bottle which has been labeled correctly and the correctbottle is placed in the correct shipping container. Any deviation fromthe correct operations and handling of the prescription could beexpected to have serious consequences. Lastly, in order to be economicalfor its intended purpose, the system must operate a high volumethroughput.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In the system of the invention, a computer system called a PharmacyAutomation Computer (PAC) controls print, apply, and load stations (PALstations), which print prescription labels, apply the labels toprescription bottles and load the labeled prescription bottles ontocarriers, a carrier conveyer system which moves the carriers containingthe prescription bottles from one station to the next, automatic drugdispensing machines which dispense pharmaceutical tablets or capsulesinto the labeled empty bottles in the carriers, bottle cappers whichapply caps to the bottles, printers which print informationcorresponding to each prescription order, order consolidation andpacking stations (OCP stations) which unload the bottles from thecarriers and transport the bottles into shipping containers and whichpack the printed information into the shipping containers along with theprescription bottles. The system dispenses both tablets and capsules andthe word “pill” is used herein to refer to pharmaceuticals, both tabletsor capsules, or any other kind of solid pharmaceutical dose in countableform. In accordance with the invention, PAC will receive the orders forprescriptions, each of which may contain an order for multipleprescriptions or a single prescription. The multiple prescriptions of anorder may be for a single patient or two or more patients in a patientgroup, such as a family. PAC stores the information for each order andcontrols the PAL stations to print and apply labels to the bottlescorresponding to each prescription. Bottle loaders at the PAL stationsload the labeled bottles into assigned locations in carriers. Theidentification of the assigned locations for each order is stored byPAC. When the order is for two or more prescriptions to be automaticallydispensed, these prescriptions will be normally assigned carriersprogressing through the system simultaneously. In most instances, theseveral bottles of a given order will be placed in a common rank ofcarriers progressing synchronously through corresponding parts of thesystem in separate lanes.

Following loading of the bottles in the carrier, the conveyer systemwill transport the carriers with the labeled bottles to the automaticdrug dispensing machines, where tablets or capsules of the prescriptionsare automatically dispensed into the prescription bottles. Followingthis operation, the conveyer system transports the now filled bottles inthe carriers to the bottle cappers where the prescription bottles arecapped, whereupon the bottle carriers holding the now filled and cappedprescription bottles are transported to the OCP stations.

The OCP stations are provided with bottle unloaders, each of whichcomprises a turntable designed to receive four bottle carrierssimultaneously. The rank of carriers progressing synchronously throughthe lanes will all be received on the turntable of the same station. Arobotic arm picks out the bottles from the carriers on the turntablecorresponding to a given order and places them on a bottle conveyer,which carries the bottles to a loading mechanism. In the loadingmechanism, the prescription bottles are bar code verified and then thebottles are loaded in a shipping container.

PAC also controls printers to print literature corresponding to eachpatient order. The printers print the information and enclose it inenvelopes and place each envelope on a conveyer which transports theenvelopes from the printers to the OCP stations. At each OCP station,the envelopes corresponding to the orders in the carriers on theturntable are received and are placed in a literature dispensingmechanism. Each envelope is inserted into a shipping container beforethe prescription bottles for the corresponding patient order are loadedinto the shipping container. When the literature and the prescriptionbottles have been bar code verified and have been loaded into theshipping container with an envelope containing printed information, theshipping container is sealed and in most cases will be dropped onto amail conveyer which carries the completed order to mailing where thepackages are sorted by destination and sent to the patient.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the automated prescriptionfilling, sorting and packaging system of the invention;

FIG. 2 schematically illustrates the electromechanical portion of thesystem of the invention in more detail;

FIG. 3 illustrates a typical bottle label to go on a prescription bottleto be processed by the system of the invention;

FIGS. 4a and 4b show perspective and partial sectional views of aprescription bottle carrier employed in the system of the invention;

FIGS. 5a and 5b schematically illustrate plan and elevational views of aPAL station used in the system to print and apply labels to theprescription bottles and load the bottles into the carriers;

FIG. 6 schematically illustrates a drug dispensing machine employed inthe system of the invention;

FIG. 6a schematically illustrates one of the drug dispensers in adispensing machine;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of an OCP station for unloadingprescription bottles from carriers and packing the prescription bottleswith printed literature in shipping containers;

FIGS. 7a-7d illustrate subsystems of an OCP station;

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of an OCP station, bottle sortation andpacking station employed in the system of the invention; and

FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing the architecture of the computersystem used in the system of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The operation of the automated system of the invention is initiated bythe entry of customer orders. From a customer order, a production orderis generated, which upon being entered in the system is classified inaccordance with a pre-established protocol. The production order will beclassified as either a Manual-Dispense Production Order, an Auto-PackProduction Order, a Large Production Order, and/or a Marriage ProductionOrder. The Manual-Dispense Order is one that is assigned to be manuallyfilled and packed because of the nature of the prescription, such asbecause it is for a narcotic or a controlled substance, because it isfor a compound, or because it is for a drug which is not in a solid dosecountable form. The present invention is concerned with theautomatically handled orders which include the Autopack ProductionOrder, the Large Production Order and the Marriage Production Order. AnAutopack Production Order is one containing one to four prescriptionsfor tablets or capsules, all of which are to be automatically dispensedand automatically assembled in a shipping container. A Large ProductionOrder is like an Autopack Production Order except that it is for morethan four prescriptions or requires more than four prescription bottlesto be filled. In the specific described embodiment, only fourprescription bottles can be automatically assembled in one shippingcontainer. A Marriage Production Order is one in which some of the ordermust be manually filled and packed and some of which is to beautomatically dispensed and packed.

As shown in the schematic illustration of FIG. 1, the orders arereceived by a host computer 9 which forwards the orders to a distributedcomputer system including a central computer called PrescriptionAutomation Controller 10 (PAC). PAC maintains an order file of theinformation about each prescription to be filled in an order includingall of the information needed to fill each prescription, prepare aprescription label for each prescription and the information to printliterature to go in a shipping container with the prescription orprescriptions. PAC updates the order file to maintain a record of thecurrent status of each prescription being filled as it progressesthrough the automated system.

In the specific embodiment of the invention as shown in FIG. 1, PAC 10controls a set of PAL stations 14 which print prescription bottlelabels, apply the prescriptions to prescription bottles, and load thelabeled bottles onto bottle carriers, a carrier conveyer system 21 whichcarries the bottle carriers to different parts of the system, automaticdrug dispensing machines 23 which dispense tablets or capsules into theprescription bottles in the bottle carriers as they are carried by theconveyer system 21, bottle cappers 25 which apply caps to the bottles,and OCP stations 29 at which the bottles are unloaded from the carriersand placed in the shipping containers corresponding to the patientorders. The conveyer system 21 carries the bottles in the carriers fromthe PAL stations through the automatic drug dispensing machines 23 tothe bottle cappers 25 and then from the bottle cappers to the OCPstations 29. The conveyer system 21 also carries the empty carriers backto the PAL stations 14. The OCP stations each also have a literaturedispensing mechanism which inserts printed literature into each shippingcontainer with the filled and capped prescription bottles. PAC 10controls literature printers 31 which print literature for eachprescription order and enclose the literature for each prescriptionorder in an envelope, print a bar code that shows through a window inthe envelope identifying the prescription order, and then place eachenvelope on a literature conveyer 34 which carries the envelope from theliterature printers 31 to the OCP stations 29.

As shown in FIG. 2, bottles to be automatically filled with theprescription drugs are introduced to the automated system by hoppers 37which receive the bottles in bulk form and automatically feed thebottles to unscramblers 39. One of the hoppers 37 and one of theunscramblers 39 will be for large bottles of 160 cc. and the remaininghoppers and unscramblers will be for small bottles of 110 cc. The smallbottle size can accommodate a majority of the automatically filledprescriptions. The large bottles are large enough for 91 percent of theprescriptions and are used to fill the prescriptions in that 91 percentwhich are too large for the small bottles. The remaining 9 percent ofthe prescriptions which are too large for the large bottles are filledby using multiple bottles. A large bottle and a small bottle willcontain a volume required for 97.5 percent of the automatically filledprescriptions. In the unscramblers, the bottles are singulated andoriented so that the bottle opening first faces downward. The bottlesare then righted and directed to PAL stations 14 on bottle conveyers 41and 43, one for large bottles and one for small bottles. Theunscramblers are purchased equipment and are available from PalacePackaging Equipment Co.

In the specific embodiment of the invention, there are four PAL stations14 as shown in FIG. 2. At the PAL stations 14, prescription labels areprinted under control of the PAC corresponding to the prescriptionsbeing automatically filled and the printed labels are applied to thebottles. As shown in FIG. 3, which illustrates a typical bottle label,the bottle label contains the usual prescription information plus a barcode 28 representing a 14 digit decimal number called the BottleIdentification Number (BIN). The first ten digits of the BIN will thesame as the order number which uniquely identifies a patient order. Theother four digits of the BIN represent a prescription item number withinthe patient order. This BIN will also be stored by the PAC 10 in theorder file.

As shown in FIGS. 4a and 4b, a bottle carrier has 24 wells 44 to receivebottles which are arranged in a 4×6 array. The leading row whichconsists of four wells are sized to accommodate the large sized bottlesand the remaining five rows are sized to receive the small bottles. Thisbreakdown is a close approximation to the anticipated requirements forlarge and small bottles. The bottles all have the same diameter, as dothe wells, but the wells in the first four rows are deeper toaccommodate the larger bottles which have a greater axial dimension. Thewell bottoms in the carriers are positioned so that the tops of thebottles loaded in the carriers are all at the same level.

The bottle carrier is also provided with an RFID tag 46 which uniquelyidentifies the carrier. The carrier identification can be read out fromthe RFID tag by radio frequency transducers. The RFID tags andtransducers are available from Data Logic Company. After a carrier isloaded at a PAL station, the RFID tag on the carrier is read and storedby PAC 10 in the order file associated with the prescription orders ofbottles loaded on the carrier.

Each bottle becomes unique when the label is applied to the bottle, andit must be placed at a predetermined scheduled position within thebottle carrier by a PAL station 14. It is critical that no deviationoccur between the logical position of the bottle determined by PAC andthe physical location of the bottle on the carrier. Also a givenAuto-Pack Production order for more than one prescription may haveprescription bottles in up to four different carriers, but the carrierswill usually all be in the same rank in their progression through thesystem so that they will be loaded at approximately the same time by thePAL stations. PAC must maintain in the order file the identification ofthe carrier in which the bottle of each prescription is located, and thelocation in the carrier where each bottle is located. PAC will obtainthe carrier identification after the carrier is loaded by the reading ofthe carrier RFID tag when the carrier is positioned for transfer out ofthe PAL station.

PAL Station

As shown in FIG. 5a, the empty bottles are fed to a PAL station onbottle stream conveyers 41 and 43. At the PAL station, the bottles arereceived in a star wheel 48 which transports the bottles in sequence toa label applying position 49. At the label applying position, a labelprinted by a label printer 42 is applied to the prescription bottle byrotating the bottle on its axis at the position 49. After application ofthe label, the bar code on the label is read by bar code reader 35 andis received by the PAL station controller to verify the BIN on thelabel. After verification of the bar code, the star wheel advances thelabeled bottle to the drop position 30. As shown in FIG. 5b, the bottleis dropped through a trap door from the drop position into a telescopingguide 32, which guides the bottle into a carrier 38 positioned beneaththe star wheel 48. Empty carriers are delivered to the PAL station by aconveyer, from which they are received into a carrier buffer 40, andthen are loaded on an XY indexing table 57 positioned beneath the starwheel 48. The indexing table 57 is moved in a serpentine path to moveeach well in the carrier on the table 57 in sequence under the dropposition 30 to receive a prescription bottle through the guide 32. Aseach prescription bottle is dropped from the drop position 30, the guide32 telescopes downwardly to guide the bottle into the appropriatecarrier well positioned directly under the drop position. In thismanner, the carrier is loaded with labeled prescription bottles inscheduled positions in the carrier.

After the loading cycle, an RFID tag reader will read the unique RFIDtag identification and communicate it to PAC. The carrier will then bereleased by the PAL station onto a conveyer 45 which carries the carrierloaded with the labeled empty prescription bottles to an automaticdispensing machine 23, of which there are four, one for each PAL station14.

Automatic Drug Dispensing Machines

As shown in FIG. 2, the conveyers 45, under control by PAC, carry thebottle carriers from the four PAL stations 14 to carrier buffers at theentrances of the four automatic drug dispensing machines 23 in which thetablets or capsules of the prescriptions are automatically dispensedinto the prescription bottles under the control of PAC. Because of theorganization provided by the carriers, the bottles are arranged intofour columns approaching each automatic dispensing machine 23. Sincethere are four automatic dispensing machines 23, 16 parallelprescription bottle columns approach the dispensing machines. In thespecific embodiment of the invention, the four automatic drug dispensingmachines each have 384 drug dispensers arranged four columns wide and 96rows deep to provide a total of 1,536 pill dispensers. The automaticdrug dispensing machines are similar to those described in the copendingapplication Ser. No. 08/455,398 filed May 31, 1995 which is herebyincorporated by reference. Each dispensing lane is divided into 32buffer assemblies each containing twelve drug dispensers oriented six oneach side of a conveyer within the dispensing machine.

As shown in FIG. 6, which schematically illustrates one of thedispensing machines with bottle carriers 38 being indexed there-through,each of the 32 buffer assemblies of the machine contains three rows ofdispensers 50. The carrier conveyer in each dispensing machine is anindexing conveyer, which moves each carrier in the dispensing machineforward one row at a time. The carriers in a dispensing machine arejuxtaposed head to toe in a continuous line throughout the dispensingmachine so that there are no gaps between carriers and the indexingconveyer moves all the carriers in the continuous line forwardsimultaneously one row at a time. The carriers in the continuous lineare spaced from each other a fraction of an inch on the indexingconveyer, but the distance between the last row on a preceding carrierin the continuous line and the first row on a succeeding carrier isequal to the distance between rows on a carrier and to the distancebetween dispenser rows in the automatic dispensing machines 23. At eachposition in which the carriers are stopped in the automatic dispensingmachine, the prescription bottles in the carriers will be aligned underthe drug dispensers. Accordingly, each row of bottles is successivelybrought under each of the 96 rows of four dispensers in the machine.Each time the bottle carriers containing the prescription bottles arestopped in the machine, each of the bottles in the line which isunderneath a drug dispenser containing tablets or capsules to bedispensed in such bottle is filled with the prescribed number of tabletsor capsules and then the continuous line of carriers is indexed to thenext row position. When a conveyer 45 transports a carrier newly filledwith empty prescription bottles to a dispensing machine 23, the carrierwill come into position adjacent the preceding carrier at the entranceto the dispensing machine in a carrier buffer 51. An RFID tag reader 58verifies the presence of the correct new carrier in the buffer 51. Theindexing conveyer will not index the line of juxtaposed carriers in thedispensing machine forward unless a new carrier with empty bottles iswithin the carrier buffer 51 so that no gaps will be formed between thecarriers in the dispensing machine. When the new carrier reaches theindexing conveyer, it will become a part of the line of juxtaposedcarriers in the dispensing machine being indexed forward one row at atime. Each of the automatic drug dispensing machines 23 operates to fillprescriptions in the above-described manner as the bottle carrierscontaining the prescription bottles move through the machines.Preferably, the buffer assemblies of each dispensing machine 23 aredivided into groups of eight separated by a selected number ofdispensing rows so that the indexing conveyer can be accessed andtechnicians on opposite sides of a dispensing machine can more readilycommunicate. When a carrier moves out of the last row position in adispensing machine, all of the prescription bottles in that bottlecarrier should be filled and a conveyer 56 transports the prescriptionbottles now filled with the prescriptions to a bottle capper 25 as shownin FIG. 2.

The individual drug dispensers and their organization into bufferassemblies is similar to that described in the above-mentioned copendingapplication. As described in this application, and as shown inschematically in FIG. 6a, the tablets or capsules are counted out one ata time from a hopper 52 by a counter 53 into an upper buffer 54, thenreleased into a lower buffer 55 and then released from the lower bufferinto a prescription bottle (designated 59 in FIG. 6a) when it comes intoposition under the dispenser. The releasing of the tablets or capsulesfrom the upper buffer 54 into the lower buffer 55 is referred to as“staging”. While the tablets or capsules of a first prescription areheld in the lower buffer 55 waiting to be released into a prescriptionbottle, the tablets or capsules of the next prescription to be filledfrom that dispenser after the first prescription will be counted intothe upper buffer 54 as described in the above-mentioned copendingapplication. To control the release of tablets or capsules from anindividual dispenser into the correct prescription bottle, PAC maintainsan index count for each automatic dispensing machine 23 which isincremented each time the automatic drug dispensing machine indexes thecarriers one row forward within the machine. PAC 10 maintains aprescription work-to list for each drug dispenser and this list isloaded with index numbers each corresponding to a prescription for thetablets or capsules of the dispenser and indicating when the dispensingcell is to dispense the tablets or capsules of the prescription. Theindex number for a prescription is loaded into the work-to list at thetime the prescription bottle for the prescription is loaded into acarrier. The index number is determined from the current index countplus the number of carrier rows between the dispenser and the carrierrow into which the prescription bottle is loaded. When the index countfor the dispenser reaches the index number in the work-to list for adispenser, the tablets or capsules from the lower buffer in thedispenser are released into the prescription bottle.

Because more than one bottle may be approaching a drug dispenser to befilled from that dispenser, each work-to list may contain several indexnumbers one for each of the prescription bottles to be filled from thedispenser loaded in a carrier approaching the dispenser. The lowestindex number is processed first in each work-to list so that eachsuccessive bottle will receive the corresponding counted outprescription by the dispenser. If a drug dispenser in the dispensingmachine senses that the dispenser may have failed to count out thecorrect number of tablets or capsules or fails to operate to release thetablets or capsules into the intended prescription bottle, this failurewould be reported to the PAC 10 which will record the failure in theorder file. The faulty dispenser is taken out of service by the PAC 10,which schedules no new prescriptions for that dispenser until it hasbeen serviced and rendered operative.

Prescription Bottle Cappers

After the prescription bottles in the carrier have been filled by one ofthe automatic drug dispensing machines 23, a conveyer 56 transports thecarrier to a bottle capper 25 where the bottles capped while the bottlesremain in the carrier. At the bottle capper 25, the carrier is loaded onan XY indexing table and the carrier is moved on the indexing table toposition each bottle under the bottle capper where the bottle is capped.If the bottle capper detects that a bottle is not properly capped, thisinformation is communicated to PAC and entered in the order file.

OCP Stations

As explained above, the carriers are organized into ranks with a rank offour carriers progressing through the automatic drug dispensing machines23 and the bottle cappers 25 synchronously so that the four carriers ofa rank exit from the cappers 25 at the same time. From the bottlecappers 25, the conveyers 56 feed the carriers onto an endless conveyerloop 71 which will transport the four carriers of a rank to one of sixOCP stations 29.

As shown in the OCP station of FIG. 7, the four carriers of a rank arefirst received in a carrier buffer 75 from which they are loaded onto aturntable 77. An RFID tag reader verifies that the correct carriers arein place on the turntable. The turntable 77 selectively rotates thecarriers into a position to have the bottles removed by a robotic arm79. The OCP station also contains equipment 91 for packing literatureinto shipping containers, which take the form of bags, along with theprescription bottles of a given order. The OCP station also includes abagging machine 81 which presents the bags for successive orders to beloaded in sequence at a loading position. The bagging machines arepurchased equipment manufactured by Concept Packaging Company of CarsonCity, Nev. The bagging machine also prints a bar code identifying theorder directly on each bag. The printed data may include the mailingaddress to which the shipping container is to be sent. In FIG. 7, a bag83 is shown at the loading position with its mouth open. The opening ofthe mouth of bag 83 is accomplished by a blower provided as part of thebagging machine. The conveyer 34 brings envelopes 85 containingliterature to be packed in shipping containers to the OCP station in thereverse sequence that the patient orders are to be packed at that OCPstation for a given rank of carriers. At the OCP stations the literatureconveyor 34 is in the form of a literature sortation system of the typeused in mail sortation by the U.S. Post Office. The literature sortationsystem comprises a pair of belts 88 at each OCP station and the pairs ofbelts pass the envelopes along from station to station. Between eachpair of belts is a gap in which a deflector 89 is located. The deflector89 under control of the OCP station controller can deflect selectedliterature envelopes into a literature dispensing mechanism 91 at theOCP station. When a rank of carriers is directed to a given OCP stationby PAC 10 from bottle cappers 25, PAC 10 will send an unload message tothe controller for the OCP station. The unload message will contain anindication of the sequence that the orders are to be unloaded from therank of carriers at the station as well as containing the information asto the scheduled position of the bottles of each order in the fourcarriers of the rank of carriers to be unloaded. At the same time thatPAC sends an unload message to the controller of the OCP station, itsends a corresponding autopublish message to the printers 31. Thismessage will contain the information to be printed for the completeorders contained in the rank of carriers being sent to an OCP station.The autopublish message will also contain the sequence in which thecorresponding orders are to be unloaded at the OCP station. In responseto the autopublish message, one of the printers 31 will print literaturefor the orders and deposit the literature packs for the orders onliterature conveyer 34 in reverse order from that in which the ordersare to be unloaded at the OCP station. Each literature pack is enclosedin an envelope having a die cut window through which a bar code isreadable by a bar code reader. This bar code which will be printed bythe appropriate printer 31 will identify the order for which theliterature pack is printed. As the envelopes containing literature packsare carried past the OCP station in the literature sortation system, thebar code readable through the window in each envelope will be read by abar code reader 87. When the bar code read by the bar code readerverifies that the bar code coincides with an order in the unload messagereceived by the controller for the OCP station, the controller for theOCP station will cause the deflector 89 to deflect the envelope into theliterature dispensing mechanism 91 at the OCP station. Since theconveyor brings the literature envelopes to the station in the reversesequence that the corresponding patient order is to be packed at thepacking station, the envelopes will be packed into the dispensingmechanism in that sequence. When a bag 83 is ready to be packed at theOCP station, the literature dispensing mechanism 91 first inserts aliterature envelope into the bag 83 where it will be positioned at oneside of the bag by gravity. This effect is achieved by orienting the bagat a slight tilted position at the bagging machine. After the literaturehas been inserted, the robotic arm 79 unloads the bottles of the orderfrom the scheduled positions in the four carriers on the turntable inaccordance with the unload message. The robotic arm includes a bar codereader and each time a bottle is lifted out of a carrier by the roboticarm, the label on the bottle is read and verified. The prescriptionbottles are then loaded into the bag 83 by a bottle loading mechanism93.

If, because of a malfunction, a literature envelope is not deflected bythe deflector 89, because of, for example, an improper bar code on theenvelope, the envelope will continue on the conveyer 34 to the end ofthe conveyer and be dumped into a receptacle at the package qualityassurance station 96 as will be described in more detail below. In thiscircumstance, the bottles of this order will not be packed with aliterature pack. When the shipping containers 83 have been verified andfilled with a literature pack and with a patient's order, the bag issealed and dropped onto a conveyer 95 which carries the sealed shippingcontainer to a mailing area where the bag is read and logged and thenmailed to the customer. If the bag does not contain a literature pack,then the bag is diverted into a tote 99 which will then be transportedby a conveyer 101 to the package quality assurance station 96 where theshipping container will be assembled with the literature pack manually.As shown in FIG. 7a, the bag is dropped from the loading position ontoan inclined table 102 and normally slides under a gate 103 onto conveyer95. If the bag is to be sent to the package quality assurance station96, the gate 103 will be down to prevent the bag from sliding ontoconveyer 95 and the table 102 is pivoted to dump the bag into a waitingtote on conveyer 101.

As shown in FIG. 7b, the bag loading mechanism comprises a horizontalstar wheel 120 which receives the bottles from a bottle stream conveyer.Bottles are placed on the bottle stream conveyer by the robotic arm 79.The horizontal star wheel feeds the bottles into a vertical star wheel122 which rotates the bottles from a vertical axis orientation to ahorizontal axis orientation and drops the bottles into a bottle nozzledevice 124, as shown in FIG. 7c. A bar code reader 106 reads the barcode on each bottle as it is carried by the star wheel 120. The bottlenozzle device 124 receives all the bottles of the order and thendeposits the bottles in the waiting open bag.

As shown in FIG. 7c, the bottle drops from the vertical star wheel 122into the open top of the box shaped nozzle device 124. One vertical sideof the nozzle device 124 has a slot 126 into which a movable arm 128extends. When the first bottle of an order is received into the nozzledevice 124, the arm 128 will be relatively close to the open top of thenozzle device 124. The arm 128 is movable upwardly and downwardly bymeans of the actuator 130 and as each successive bottle is received inthe nozzle device, the arm 128 indexes downwardly. When all of thebottles of an order have been received in the nozzle device 124, theactuator 130 lowers the arm 128 to the bottom of the slot 126 and thenwithdraws the arm 128 from the nozzle device 124 so that the bottlesdrop to the bottom of the nozzle device. The nozzle device then movesdownwardly into the open bag. The bottom of the nozzle device 124 isprovided with a normally closed flap 132 and the flap 132 is openedafter the nozzle device lowers into the bag to allow the bottles to dropto the bottom of the bag.

The operation of the literature dispensing mechanism 91 is schematicallyillustrated in FIG. 7d. As shown in FIG. 7d, envelopes deflected fromthe conveyor 34 travel through a chute 136 to one side of a magazine 137and a pusher mechanism 138 pushes the envelope sideways into themagazine. The magazine 137 is one of a pair of magazines 137 and 139positioned one above the other. When all of the envelopes for a rank ofcarriers on the turntable have been received in the upper magazine 137,the assembly of the two magazines is rotated to 180 degrees so thatupper magazine becomes the lower magazine and vice versa. A vacuumpick-up 142 removes the envelopes from the lower magazine and carriesthe envelopes to a guide 143, which directs each envelope to a bar coderead position. After a bar code reader 144 reads the bar code on theenvelopes, an actuator 145 moves the envelope into position over awaiting open bag, where the envelope is dropped into the bag.

While the lower magazine of the pair of magazines 137 and 139 is beingunloaded and packed in a bag from the lower position as shown in FIG.7c, the magazine in the upper position will be packed with literatureenvelopes for the next rank of carriers to be received by the OCPstation.

As described above, the bar code on the bottles transported by thehorizonal star wheel 120 are read by a bar code reader 106. The patientorder represented by the bar code read by the bar code reader 106 mustagree with the bar code read from the literature pack by bar code reader144 and with the bar code printed on the shipping container by thebagging machine 81. If there is any discrepancy, the package will bedirected into the waiting tote 99 and sent on conveyer 101 to thepackage quality assurance area 96 where the shipping container and itscontents will be manually inspected for resolution of any problemidentified.

The above-described operation of the packing of the shipping containerswith a literature pack and the bottles of the patient order is carriedout for an order comprising a single bottle or containing multiplebottles up to four bottles of an order if the bottles of the patientorder are all in the same rank of carriers which will be positioned onthe turntable 77. In some instances a patient order will have one ormore bottles in two different ranks of carriers. In that instance, thisfact will be recorded in the order file by PAC 10 and PAC 10 will directthe robotic arm to place the bottles of the split order on a bottlestream conveyer 108 from which they are sent to bottle sortation andpacking station 112 (BSP station) to be described below.

As described above, each bottle unloaded from a carrier at one of theOCP stations has its bar code read and verified by a bar code reader inthe robotic arm 79. A discrepancy in this verification will cause OCPstation to place the bottle in a bottle stream conveyer 108 to be sentto the bottle quality assurance area 109 where the bottle is manuallyand electronically inspected. Any bottle which has been identified byPAC as one which may have not been filled with the correct number oftablets or capsules by the automatic dispensing machine is also sent viaconveyer 108 to the bottle quality assurance area 109. Also when abottle capper 25 detects that it failed to properly cap the bottle, thisfailure will be recorded in the order file and PAC 10 will direct theOCP station to place the corresponding prescription bottle in the bottlestream conveyer 108, which transports the bottle to the bottle qualityassurance area 109.

In addition, bottles which require verification that the replenishmentof the automated dispensers in the automatic dispensing machines 23 hasbeen accomplished with the correct drug are also sent to the bottlequality assurance area. This latter function is accomplished as follows:PAC 10 maintains a count of the number of tablets or capsules to bedispensed from each drug dispenser in the automatic drug dispensingmachines 23. When the number of tablets or capsules in the hopper of adispenser reaches a predetermined low level, a prescription for thetablets or capsules of that dispenser is selected from the que ofprescriptions awaiting filling stored in PAC 10. The prescription isselected to call for a sufficient quantity of tablets or capsules toexhaust the remaining tablets or capsules in that dispenser. Thecorresponding dispenser is then caused to dispense tablets or capsulesin accordance with the predetermined prescription so that the hopper atthe dispenser is exhausted of tablets or capsules. This operation iscarried out before the PAL station 14 labels a bottle for thiscorresponding prescription. The tablets or capsules for the prescriptionwill be counted out into the upper buffer of the corresponding dispenserbut will not be released from the upper buffer to the lower bufferbecause the number of tablets or capsules counted out is incomplete.Then when that drug dispenser has been refilled with tablets orcapsules, the dispenser will then complete its counting out of thenumber of tablets or capsules required for the prescription into theupper buffer. When the count is successfully completed, the prescriptionbottle for this prescription will be labeled and loaded in a carrier bythe appropriate PAL station in the appropriate column of the carrier.When this bottle reaches the dispenser, the tablets or capsules will bereleased into the bottle. Such a bottle which is filled in this mannerwith part of the tablets or capsules before the dispenser is exhaustedand part of the tablets or capsules coming from the next refill of thedispenser is called a crossover bottle. All crossover bottles upon beingunloaded at an OCP station 29 are placed in the bottle stream conveyer108 by the robotic arm 79 to send the crossover bottles to the bottlequality assurance area 109.

In addition to the crossover bottles, the first bottle after thecrossover bottle to be filled by any dispenser is also sent to thebottle quality assurance area 109 by being placed in the bottle streamconveyer 108 by the OCP station. When a bottle requiring inspection atthe bottle quality assurance area is part of a multiple bottle order,all of the remaining bottles of that order are sent via the conveyer 119to BSP station 112.

Bottle Quality Assurance Area

The bottle quality assurance area 109 has several stations at whichpharmacists will scan the bar code on the bottles and visually inspectthe contents of the bottles. The scan of the bottle bar code will bringup a display on the pharmacist's terminal which includes all theinformation regarding the particular prescription and order includingthe drug name, and instructions which identify the reason for theverification. All of the bottles that pass this inspection are insertedby the pharmacist on a bottle stream conveyer 111 to send the inspectedbottles to the BSP station 112.

As described above, the robotic arms at the order consolidation andpacking stations place individual bottles in the bottle stream conveyer108 to be sent to BSP station 112 or to the bottle quality assurancearea 109. The conveyer 108 leads to a star wheel diverter mechanism 114which under the control of a controller for the BSP station deposits thebottle in a bottle stream conveyer 116 leading to the bottle qualityassurance area 109 or into a bottle stream conveyer 118 leading to BSPstation 112.

BSP Station

As shown in FIG. 8, the BSP station comprises a rotary buffer 113 inwhich slots 115 are defined by carriers sliding on an oval table top androtate around a central hub on the table top. The bottle stream conveyer118 leads to the table top of the rotary buffer 113 and each of theslots 115 rotates in succession past the exit end of the bottle streamconveyer 118. As the bottles approach the buffer 113, the bar codes onthe labels are read by a bar code reader 117,. The controller for theBSP station controls the buffer 113 to receive the bottles presented onconveyer 118 in slots corresponding to patient orders as determined fromthe BIN numbers read on the prescription bottles. The prescriptionbottles of a given order are all accumulated in the same slot 115 in therotary buffer 113. When a complete order has been accumulated in therotary buffer 113, PAC will direct the printers 31 to print a literaturepack for the order. Literature on the conveyer 34 passes the BSP station112 before the OCP stations and the bar codes on the literature packs onthe conveyer 34 are read by a bar code reader 125 at the BSP station.The conveyor 34 at the BSP station 112 comprises a literature sortingconveyor like those at the OCP stations. When a literature envelopecontaining literature for a patient order which is scheduled to bepackaged at the BSP station passes by this station, this fact will bedetected by the bar code reader 125. In response to this detection, adeflector 127 will deflect the literature from the conveyer 34 anddirect it into literature dispensing mechanism 129. The literaturedispensing 129 is the same as the dispensing mechanisms 91 at the OCPstations 29. The BSP station 112 also has a bagging machine 123 like thebagging machines 81 at the OCP stations 27 and the literature will bedispensed and packed in a bag 121 in the same manner as described inconnection with the OCP stations. When the literature dispensingmechanism 129 feeds a literature pack to the shipping container, the barcode of the literature pack will be read by a bar code reader. This barcode should identify an order in a slot in the rotary buffer 113. Inresponse to the bar code read by the bar code reader, the controller forthe BSP station will operate the rotary buffer 113 to move thecorresponding buffer slot 115 into position to be unloaded into bottleloading mechanism 119, which is of the same construction as the bottleloading mechanisms 93 at the OCP stations. Then after the literaturepack has been inserted into the waiting bag 121, the bottles of theorder will be loaded into the bag 121 by the mechanism 119. The BSPstation, like the OCP stations, drops the completed and sealed bags onthe conveyer 95 for carrying the completed package to the mailing area.When the bar code reader 131 detects that the envelope does notcorrespond to an order in the buffer 113, then this envelope will bepacked without bottles and the bag will be diverted into a tote 135which will be carried by the conveyer 101 to the package qualityassurance area 96 where the package will be manually assembled with thecorrect prescription bottles.

If the literature pack is on the conveyer 34, but because of failure ofthe bar code reader 125 or the literature sorting mechanism, does notget diverted at station 112, the conveyer 34 will carry the literaturepackage to the package quality assurance area where it can be manuallyadded to the package.

Manual Packing Area

When the order is a marriage order requiring some of the order to bemanually filled and some of the order to be automatically filled, aportion of the order to be automatically filled will be filled by theautomatic dispensing machines 23 capped by the bottle cappers 25 andinserted into a bag or shipping container at an OCP station 29 alongwith the literature of this order. This bag will then be diverted into awaiting tote 99 and sent on the conveyer 101 to manual packing area 149where the rest of the marriage order requiring manual dispensing andpacking will be packed with the automatically dispensed portion of theorder.

When the order is a large production order requiring more than fourbottles for the order, all items of the large production order should befound in the same rank of carriers and loaded onto a turntable at an OCPstation. Four bottles of the order will automatically be inserted into ashipping container as described above along with the literature for theorder and then this order upon being bagged will be diverted into awaiting tote 99 which will remain at the OCP station to receive the restof the order. The remaining bottles of the order will then be packed inan additional bag or bags and also diverted into the tote 99 so that allthe bags corresponding to a single large order will be assembled in atote 99. When the order is complete in the waiting tote 99, the tote issent on the conveyer 101 to the manual packaging area 149 where theorder will receive any manually dispensed prescriptions and be packedmanually into a mailing package for sending to the patient.

Control System Architecture

As shown in FIG. 9, PAC 10 controls the components of the system througha distributed logic system. PAC 10 receives the prescriptions from thehost computer and stores the prescriptions in the order file. PAC 10controls the PAL stations 14 via controllers 153. PAC 10 makes a batchfile for each carrier containing the prescription information for eachprescription to be loaded into the corresponding carrier and the exactlocations in the carrier where the prescription bottles of theprescriptions are to be placed. These batch files are transmitted to thecontroller 153 which controls label printers of the PAL stations 14 toprint the bottle prescription labels, label the bottles, and control thePAL stations to load the labeled bottles in the scheduled locations in acarrier. Transducers 155 read the carrier identification from the RFIDtag when a carrier has been loaded at a PAL station and the loadedcarrier is dispatched to an automatic drug dispensing machine andcontrollers 153 transmit the carrier identification to PAC 10. PAC 10stores the carrier identifications of the carriers in association withthe scheduled locations for the prescription bottles loaded in thesecarriers and with the corresponding orders so that for each order, PACcan retrieve the carrier identifications and the scheduled locations inthe carriers of the prescription bottles for the order.

The conveyer system is controlled by PAC 10 via carrier conveyercontroller 159. When the PAL stations have completed loading of theorders in the batch file into a rank of carriers, PAC 10 issues a moveinstruction to the conveyer controller 159 to cause the conveyers 45 totransport the rank of carriers now filled with labeled emptyprescription bottles to the automatic drug dispensing machines 23. Thecontroller 159 also controls the cappers 25.

The automatic drug dispensing machines are controlled by PAC 10 viaautomatic dispensing machine controllers 165. Each time a dispensingmachine 23 indexes a line of carriers in the machine forward one row,the controller 165 for that dispensing machine will report the indexingto PAC 10 which increments the index count for the dispensing machine23. In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the dispensingmachines 23 are indexed synchronously so that only one index count isrequired to be kept for all four machines. After each indexing of thecarrier trains by one row, PAC 10 instructs the controllers 165 todispense the tablets or capsules from the lower buffers of thosedispensers for which the work-to list contain an index number equal tothe index count. PAC 10 also instructs the controller 165 to counttablets or capsules into the upper buffers and stage the tablets orcapsules in the lower buffers at the appropriate times as described inthe abovementioned copending application. When a dispenser exhausts thetablets or capsules from its storage hopper in counting out tablets orcapsules into the upper buffer, PAC 10 will wait until the hopper hasbeen replenished and then will instruct the controller 165 to completethe count from that dispenser. If an automatic drug dispensing machine23 detects an error in counting out tablets or capsules or in thestaging of the tablets or capsules in the lower buffer or in releasingthe tablets or capsules from the lower buffer into a prescriptionbottle, the existence of this error will be signaled to the controller165 which will report the error to PAC 10 which will store theinformation indicating a potential error in the filling of the bottle inthe order file.

The OCP stations 29 are controlled by the PAC 10 via controllers 169.When a rank of four carriers leave automatic drug dispensing machines23, PAC 10 determines an OCP station 29 to receive the rank of carriersand directs the carrier conveyer controller 159 to control the carrierloop 71 to move the rank of four carriers to the selected OCP station 29after the bottles in the carriers have been capped. As the carrierstravel to the assigned OCP station 29 from the cappers 25, PAC 10 willsend autopublish messages to printers 31 to print documents for eachorder which has been loaded in the rank of carriers and which is to bepacked in OCP station. Each of the stations 29 will be assigned one ofthe printers 31 and the assigned printer will print literature packs forthe orders in a rank of carriers in the reverse sequence that the ordersare to be unloaded from the corresponding rank of carriers. When a rankof carriers is sent to an OCP station, PAC 10 will send an unloadmessage to the OCP station controller 169 for that station. This unloadmessage will include the information necessary to unload the bottles,and print the patient order ID on a bag to be presented by the baggingmachine at the OCP station. The unload message identifies which carrierscontain the bottles of each order, the locations of the bottles of eachorder in each of the carriers and the sequence in which the orders areto be unloaded. Also, bottles of split orders, bottles to be sent to theBSP station 112 and bottles to be sent to the bottle quality assurancestation will be identified in the unload message. From this information,the controller 169 controls the OCP station to unload the bottles fromthe locations in the four carriers on the turntable as specified in theunload message. The OCP station controllers 169 receive the carrier IDinformation from RFID tag readers and the BIN numbers read by bar codereaders from both the bottles unloaded at the station and theinformation packets at the station. The controllers 169 also operate thetables 102 and gates 103 at the stations 29 to divert into totes thoseshipping containers which are to be sent to the package qualityassurance area 96 or to manual packing 137.

PAC 10 also instructs a BSP controller 187 which controls the BSPstation 112. The controller 187 controls the rotatory buffer 113 andcontrols the printer of the bagging machine 123 to print labels on thebags presented by the bagging machine 123. The controller 187 alsoreceives prescription BIN numbers read from the bottles and the ordernumbers read from the information packets at the station 112 andcontrols the diverting mechanism comprising an inclined table and gateat the BSP station 112 to divert selected bags into totes at the BSPstation 112. The controller 187 also controls the star wheel 114 todirect bottles received on bottle stream conveyer 108 to the BSP station112 or to the quality assurance station 109.

The deflectors 89 at the stations 29 and the deflector 127 at thestation 112 are controlled by means of controller 194 which receives thepatient order ID bar coded on the literature packets read by the barcode readers 87 and 125. The controller 194 verifies that the bar codesread from the literature packs by the bar code reader 87 at an OCPstation corresponds with the orders in the unload message received fromthe PAC 10. The controller 194 operates the deflectors 89 to direct theliterature packs into the literature dispensing mechanisms at the OCPstation. The controller 194 compares the order identification receivedfrom PAC with order numbers read from the literature pack by bar codereader 125 at the BSP station and when a match is detected, controller194 actuates deflector 127 to direct the literature pack into theliterature dispensing mechanism at the BSP station.

PAC 10 controls the tote conveyer 101 by means of a tote conveyercontroller 197. The totes on the tote conveyer 101 are identified byRFID tags and these RFID tags are read by an RFID tag reader 199. Thesetote IDs are transmitted to PAC 10 by the controller 197 so that PAC 10can match the orders in the totes on the tote conveyer 101 with the toteID.

PAC 10 also interfaces with computers 201 at the quality assurance area109 and with computers 203 at the package quality assurance area 96. Thecomputers 201 and 203 provide information to pharmacists or techniciansabout the orders and prescriptions in the packages and prescriptionbottles received at these quality assurance areas.

The above-described system automatically dispenses tablets and capsulesinto prescription bottles, assembles the prescription bottles for acommon order into shipping containers, prints literature packs for eachorder and automatically inserts the literature packs into the shippingcontainers and prints the mailing labels on the shipping containers sothat upon completion of the automatically operated system the order isready to be mailed.

The above automatic system is accomplished with a very high throughputof orders and, at the same time, provides for checks and balances tomake sure that the system is operating properly and provides forautomatically diverting orders and bottles for manual inspection forproblems in the automatic system that have been detected.

The above description is of a preferred embodiment of the invention andmodification may be made thereto without departing from the spirit andscope of the invention which is defined in the appended claims.

1. An automatic prescription filling and packing system comprising pilldispensing machines to automatically count out and dispense pills intoprescription bottles in accordance with prescription orders, means toprint literature packs customized to said prescription orders, and orderconsolidation means to present a shipping container for each order, toinsert the prescription bottle for said order into such shippingcontainer and to insert, separately from any prescription bottleinserted into the shipping container, the literature pack for said orderinto such shipping container.
 2. The system as recited in claim 1,wherein some of said prescription orders include a plurality ofprescriptions, said dispensing machine dispensing the pills of theprescriptions of a prescription order into separate prescriptionbottles, said order consolidation means loading a plurality ofprescription bottles of a prescription order containing more than oneprescription into a common shipping container with a literature pack forsuch prescription order.
 3. An automatic prescription filling andpacking system as recited in claim 1 further comprising means to applyprinted prescription labels to said prescription bottles prior to theinsertion of said prescription bottles into a shipping container.
 4. Aprescription dispensing and packing system comprising a plurality ofbottle carriers each having receptacles to receive a plurality of pillbottles, means to receive orders for prescriptions, means to loadprescription bottles corresponding to the prescriptions of said ordersinto scheduled locations in said carriers, a prescription pilldispensing machine, means to transport said carriers with saidprescription bottles through said dispensing machine, said dispensingmachine dispensing the pills of said orders into the bottles in saidcarriers in accordance with the scheduled locations of the pill bottlesin said carriers, order consolidation means receiving carriers from saiddispensing machine and presenting shipping containers to be filled, eachshipping container corresponding to an order, said order consolidationmeans unloading bottles from said carriers and loading bottles intoshipping containers corresponding to the orders, said orderconsolidation means determining each bottle to go in each shippingcontainer from the scheduled location of such bottle in a carrier.
 5. Asystem as recited in claim 4, wherein said order consolidation meanscomprises a turntable to receive a plurality of said carriers, a roboticarm to unload prescription bottles from the carriers on said turntableand means to transport the bottles unloaded from the carriers intoshipping containers.
 6. A system as recited in claim 4, including aplurality of dispensing machines each receiving carriers with bottlesand dispensing pills into the prescription bottles corresponding toorders in accordance with the scheduled locations of said prescriptionbottles in said carriers, conveying means organizing said carries intoranks of a plurality of carriers and passing a rank of carriers throughsaid dispensing machines synchronously, said system further comprising aplurality of said order consolidation means and conveyer means to directall the carriers of a rank to the same order consolidation means.
 7. Asystem as recited in claim 4, wherein some of said orders include aplurality of prescriptions, said automatic dispensing machine dispensingeach prescription of an order in a separate bottle, said orderconsolidation means loading a plurality of bottles of an order into acommon shipping container.
 8. A system for assembling prescriptions byprescription order wherein an order may include more than oneprescription, comprising a multiplicity of carriers each having thecapability of receiving a multiplicity of prescription bottles inscheduled locations, means responsive to an order to provideprescription bottles filled with pharmaceuticals in accordance with theprescriptions of said patient order in one or more of said carriers, anorder consolidation and packing station, means to assemble a pluralityof carriers at said order and packing station, and packing means at saidorder and consolidation station to remove the prescription bottles ofsaid order from the scheduled locations in the carriers of saidplurality and pack the bottles of said order in a container.
 9. Thesystem as recited in claim 8 further comprising means to printliterature for said order and pack said literature in said container atsaid consolidation and packing station.
 10. A system for sortingprescriptions by prescription order comprising a carrier having thecapability of receiving a multiplicity of prescription bottles inassigned locations, means responsive to a prescription of an order toprovide a prescription bottle filled with pharmaceuticals in accordancewith said prescription in an assigned location in said carrier, an orderconsolidation and packing station comprising means to receive saidcarrier and remove said prescription bottle from said assigned locationin said carrier and pack said prescription bottle in a containercorresponding to said order.
 11. A system as recited in claim 10 furthercomprising means to print literature corresponding to said order andpack said literature in said container at said order consolidation andpacking station.
 12. A method of sorting prescription bottles byprescription order comprising identifying prescription bottlescorresponding to each order, placing the prescription bottles of eachorder in scheduled locations in carriers, each carrier having amultiplicity of locations to receive prescription bottles, maintaining arecord for each order of the identification of the carriers containingthe prescription bottles of each order and the scheduled location insaid carriers of each prescription bottle of each order, and removingthe prescription bottles from the scheduled locations in said carriersin accordance with said record and placing the prescription bottles ofeach order in a separate container.
 13. A method as recited in claim 12further comprising applying a label to each prescription bottleidentifying the prescription in the order corresponding to saidprescription bottle.
 14. A method as recited in claim 12 furthercomprising filling said prescription bottles with pills in accordancewith said patient orders after said prescription bottles have beenplaced in scheduled locations in said carrier.
 15. A method as recitedin claim 13 further comprising filling said prescription bottles aftersaid prescription bottles have been labeled and placed in scheduledlocations in said carriers.
 16. An automated method for filling andpackaging a prescription order that includes at least one prescription,comprising at least one of sequential, sequence independent andnon-sequential steps of: storing in a computer prescription informationcomprising at least one prescription order; counting out and dispensingpharmaceuticals into at least one bottle responsive to the at least oneprescription order, each of the at least one bottle having a firstidentifier corresponding to a prescription order; printing at least oneliterature pack customized to each of the at least one prescriptionorder, the at least one literature pack having a second identifiercorresponding to the prescription order; identifying, by at least oneidentification device, the first and second identifiers; and insertingthe at least one bottle and the at least one literature packcorresponding to the at least one prescription order into a shippingcontainer responsive to said identifying the first and secondidentifiers.
 17. The method as recited in claim 16 further comprisingthe step of organizing a plurality of carriers holding bottles intoranks of carriers, wherein the literature pack and the at least onebottle corresponding to one of the at least one prescription order areinserted into the shipping container at an order consolidation andpacking (OCP) station when the at least one bottle is contained within asingle rank of carriers.
 18. The method as recited in claim 16 furthercomprising the step of organizing a plurality of carriers holdingbottles into ranks of carriers, wherein the at least one literature packand the at least one bottle corresponding to one of the at least oneprescription order are inserted into the shipping container at a bottlesortation and packing (BSP) station when the at least one bottle iscontained within at least two ranks of carriers.
 19. The method asrecited in claims 17 or 18 wherein the carriers hold different sizebottles.
 20. The method as recited in claims 17 or 18 further comprisingthe step of capping the bottles in the carriers.
 21. The method asrecited in claims 17 or 18 further comprising the step of transportingthe ranks of carriers synchronously during dispensing.
 22. The method asrecited in claim 16, wherein the first identifier is applied to each ofthe at least one bottle prior to dispensing pharmaceuticals into therespective bottles.
 23. The method as recited in claim 16 furthercomprising the steps of: providing a third identifier on the shippingcontainer; reading the first, second and third identifiers to determineif the first, second and third identifiers correspond to the sameprescription order; and inserting the at least one bottle and the atleast one literature pack into the shipping container when the first,second and third identifiers correspond to the same prescription order.24. The method as recited in claim 23 further comprising the step oftransporting the shipping to container to a quality assurance area whensaid reading step indicates that at least one of the first, second andthird identifiers do not correspond with a common prescription order.25. The method as recited in claim 24, further comprising the step ofmanually inspecting at least one of the shipping container, theliterature pack and the at least one bottle.
 26. The method as recitedin claim 25 further comprising the step of shipping a shipping containerto a customer.
 27. The method as recited in claim 23 wherein the first,second and third identifiers comprise a bar code.
 28. The method asrecited in claim 23 further comprising the steps of: providing aplurality of carriers, each carrier holding a plurality of bottles;affixing a fourth identifier to each of the plurality of carriers; andusing a device prior to said counting and dispensing step to read thefourth identifier to ensure that at least one of the plurality ofcarriers holds bottles corresponding to the prescription order.
 29. Themethod as recited in claim 23 further comprising the step of printing ashipping address on the shipping container.
 30. The method as recited inclaim 16 further comprising the steps of: detecting a discrepancy in afirst identifier; transporting the bottle associated with the identifierdiscrepancy to a bottle quality assurance area.
 31. The method asrecited in claim 30 further comprising the steps of: manually inspectingthe bottle and resolving the discrepancy; transporting the bottle havingthe resolved discrepancy from the bottle quality assurance area to abottle sortation and packing (BSP) station comprising at least onebuffer area that receives bottles with a resolved discrepancy; andinserting the bottle having the resolved discrepancy and a customizedliterature pack, each corresponding to a prescription order, into theshipping container at the BSP station.
 32. The method as recited inclaim 16 further comprising the steps of: identifying a discrepancy in asecond identifier; and transporting the shipping container that containsthe literature package having the second identifier discrepancy to aquality assurance area.
 33. The method as recited in claim 32 furthercomprising the step of manually inserting a bottle corresponding to theprescription order in the shipping container.
 34. The method as recitedin claim 16 further comprising the steps of: identifying a discrepancyin a second identifier; and transporting the literature package havingthe second identifier discrepancy to a quality assurance area.
 35. Themethod as recited in claim 34 further comprising the step of manuallyinserting a literature package corresponding to the prescription orderin the shipping container.